WASHINGTON -- President Bush moved quickly yesterday to nominate White House General Counsel Alberto Gonzales to become the nation's first Hispanic attorney general, succeeding John Ashcroft.

Lawrence Jackson, Associated Press President Bush nominated White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, right, as his choice to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft. Gonzales, is a Texas confidant and the most prominent Hispanic in the administration. Click photo for larger image.

Less than 24 hours after the White House announced Ashcroft's resignation, Bush presented Gonzales as his nominee in a brief session in the Roosevelt Room, quickly hugging his fellow Texan as he noted that he's been promoting Gonzales' career for 10 years. Bush appointed him to the Texas Supreme Court before tapping him to become his White House general counsel.

Democrats in the Senate said privately they doubted the nomination would be blocked, but they also said they intend to raise "tough" questions about him, particularly about a controversial memorandum he wrote concerning the legal rights of detainees in the war on terrorism.

"I commend Mr. Gonzales on his nomination to be attorney general, but I'm concerned about aspects of his record as White House counsel that raise doubts about his commitment to the rule of law," said Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in reference to the memo.

The memo upheld the view that the U.S. government was within its rights under the Geneva Convention, which govern treatment of prisoners of war, to hold detainees seized in Afghanistan without due process because they might be terrorists in the al-Qaida network.

The nature of the fight against terrorism "renders quaint" some provisions of the Geneva conventions, Gonzales wrote, such as the rules "requiring that captured enemy be afforded such things as commissary privileges ... athletic uniforms and scientific instruments."

Yesterday, Gonzales indicated that he realized a public storm was ahead and that he was prepared to confront it -- especially after the controversies arising from Ashcroft's tenure, which raised complaints from conservatives and liberals alike about civil rights abuses following the domestic terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"There should be no question regarding the department's commitment to justice for every American," Gonzales said yesterday. "On this principle there can be no compromise."

Conceding that blocking Gonzales could backfire politically, several Democrats also noted that Bush had received 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in last week's election -- a record for a Republican president -- and that Democrats are eager to woo them back to their fold.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he was confident that Gonzales would be confirmed without difficulty.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., seeking to become the panel's next chairman in the new Congress, said in a statement: "From my extensive contacts over the past four years with White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, I think he will make an excellent attorney general. He is a legal scholar, served with distinction as a Texas Supreme Court justice and has demonstrated excellent balance between law enforcement responsibilities and the protection of civil rights."

Bush praised his counsel as "a calm and steady voice in times of crisis" and said he "has an unwavering principle of respect for the rule of law."

The president noted that Gonzales had grown up with six other children in a two-bedroom house built by their parents, who were migrant workers. Gonzales went to Rice University and then to Harvard Law School.

"Just give me a chance to prove myself -- that is a common prayer for those in my community," Gonzales responded. "Mr. President, thank you for that chance."

Bush declared: "My confidence in Al was high to begin with. It has only grown with time."

University of Maryland law professor Michael Greenberger, director of the its Center for Health and Homeland Security, said: "While Gonzales won't have clear sailing because of some flies in the ointment [over the terror memos], he meets the criterion that everyone in the Bush administration is seeking now, which is a reasoned mind and a reasoned voice in the Department of Justice.

"Internally and certainly outside, Ashcroft was viewed as an unnecessarily divisive figure," Greenberger said. "In the post 9/11 period, there was good will and latitude to the department from the legal community because we saw there needed to be tough counterterrorism measures. But he [Ashcroft] took that good will and exceeded that and was unnecessarily confrontational. He said anyone who didn't support him was siding, in effect, with the enemy. He lashed out at librarians as being 'hysterical.' "

Greenberger said expected that Gonzales would be confirmed and would then be tactful enough to pursue a tough counterterrorism policy without alienating conservatives or liberals. He said it was less likely, but not impossible, that Bush would nominate Gonzales as the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court should a vacancy occur, but that there is precedent for first installing a favored candidate as attorney general before naming him as a justice.

Conservatives yesterday immediately signaled their opposition to placing Gonzales on the high court because he is thought to be a moderate regarding abortion. Richard Viguerie, a longtime voice of conservatism, told reporters that former President George H.W. Bush put David Souter on the court, and Souter has often voted with liberal justices more than with conservatives. "No more blank slates," Viguerie said.

University of Missouri-Columbia law professor Christina Wells, a constitutional law scholar, said she expected few major changes in the Justice Department under Gonzales. "John Ashcroft took a vigorous approach to enforcement of the USA Patriot Act, immigration laws and other items in order to battle terrorism," she said. "While Gonzalez is considerably more moderate on some issues than Ashcroft, there is reason to believe that he, too, will vigorously enforce law enforcement initiatives at the expense of civil liberties."

Ralph Neas, president of the liberal group People for the American Way, said in a statement: "Alberto Gonzales' role in the development of policies that ultimately led to the Abu Ghraib prison scandals in Iraq is deeply troubling. Few images have done more to scar our nation's image at home and abroad than the terrible pictures of prisoners being abused in Iraq.

"Further, there are many questions that must still be answered regarding the rights and treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere," Neas said. "We expect senators to question him closely on these matters."